Paganism is impossible to precisely define, but that doesn’t mean it’s anything anybody says it is. The irreligious and the none-of-the-aboves are not Pagan. Call them what they are and leave “Pagan” for those who actually practice Pagan religions. Read more
I’m sick of all the “tough love” on social media. They say “I’m just being honest” but they aren’t – they’re trying to make themselves feel superior and being cruel in the process. If you’ve been hearing tough love and it’s just making things worse, read on. Read more
In December 1946, author and Christian apologist C.S. Lewis published an essay in Strand Magazine titled A Christmas Sermon for Pagans in which he argued for the moral and ethical superiority of Christianity. He distinguished between “Pagans” (“the backward people in the remote districts who had not yet been converted” and to whom Lewis showed a modicum of respect, albeit in a patronizing way) and the “post-Christian men” of his era to whom his sermon was directed. On Christmas Day... Read more
The reading for 2024 is quite positive, but also quite challenging. This is not a year for sitting on the sidelines: not in your personal life, not in your spiritual life, and not in your work to build a better world here and now. Read more
The Top 10 posts of 2023 on Under the Ancient Oaks: divination, a Storm Goddess, Pagan clothing and jewelry, and a lot about the conflicts going on in this world and in the Otherworld. Read more
While I’ve come to accept that sometimes the Pagan community just doesn’t care about something as much as I do, there are times when I find myself screaming “this is important! Why are you not reading this?!” Read more
Dark academia and secret societies, free will and fate. Witches, vampires, Tarot, and poison. What would you do to make your dreams a reality? Here are the top five novels I read in 2023. Read more
You know that feeling you get on the last day of vacation? You’ve still got today to enjoy, but it’s a bittersweet feeling knowing that what you looked forward to and have enjoyed is coming to an end. That’s how I feel at the Winter Solstice. Read more
What we thought Paganism would become 10 years ago isn’t happening, and the future of Paganism is very much undetermined. It will grow out of what we do. It will be what we make it. What do you want to make it? Read more
Epistemology is the branch of philosophy that deals with the question of how we know what we know. How do we know what we know – what we think we know – about the many Gods? We will never know with certainty, but certainty isn’t required. Read more
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